Scores dead in western Syria bomb blast: state media

A car bomb has killed at least 34 people in a government-controlled village in the western Syrian province of Hama, state news agency SANA has reported.

More than 50 people were wounded in the attack in Al-Horra, the report said.

It described the attack as a "terrorist" bombing, wording it uses to refer rebels fighting forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Rebel coalition The Islamic Front has claimed responsibility on Twitter, saying a radio-controlled bomb had targeted a "gathering of Assad militia".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad monitoring group, said that there were overnight clashes between government forces and Islamist fighters in the province, as well as bombings by the Syrian army.

Syria's three-year-old conflict began as peaceful protests but has turned into civil war, killing at least 100,000 people, according to United Nations.

Rebels have been joined by hardline Islamists, some of them linked to Al Qaeda, who have become increasingly powerful among opposition forces.